Constraining Earth's core composition from inner core nucleation.

The composition of Earth's core is a fundamental property of the Earth's deep interior, defining its present structure and long term thermal and magnetic evolution. However, the composition of the core is not well understood, with several combinations of light elements being able to satisfy the traditional constraints from cosmochemistry, core formation and seismology. The classic view of inner core formation does not include the necessity for liquids to be supercooled to below their melting point before freezing.

Peritoneal dialysis catheter insertion in patients with obesity: a cohort study and single centre approach to increasing uptake.

Background: The global prevalence of obesity in patients with end-stage kidney disease requiring kidney replacement therapy is rising. While peritoneal dialysis (PD) offers advantages for many patients, its use in those with obesity has been historically limited due to concerns about catheter insertion-related complications, mechanical issues, and infection risk. This study aimed to evaluate PD catheter patency, infection rates, and modality outcomes in obese and non-obese patients to inform best practices and guide programme expansion.

The effect of compositional fluctuations in a liquid Fe-O alloy on the nucleation of Earth's inner core.

The Earth's solid inner core plays a fundamental role in determining the past and present properties and dynamics of the Earth's deep interior. Inner core growth powers the geodynamo, producing the protective global magnetic field, and provides a record of core evolution spanning geological timescales. However, the origins of the inner core remain enigmatic.

Prognostic Significance of CD8 T-cell Spatial Biomarkers in ER+ and ER- Breast Cancer.

Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) have been shown to be prognostic in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), but are rarely considered in other subtypes, particularly estrogen receptor (ER) positive cancers (70-80% of breast cancers), due to lower TIL counts. However, the spatial proximity of lower abundance TILs has not been evaluated in relation to breast cancer prognosis. In this study, multiplex immunofluorescent-stained images were used to identify cell types based on cytokeratin (Ck), CD8, and FoxP3 expression.

Religious Perspectives Regarding the Ethical Issues Associated With Clinical Xenotransplantation.

Background: As xenotransplantation advances toward clinical trials, viewpoints from various segments of society are continually needed to engage the public and to inform the prospective clinical trials. As the majority of the world's population identifies with a religious tradition, religious perspectives regarding the ethical issues associated with clinical xenotransplantation are an important element to take into account.

Methods: At the 2024 Congress of The Transplantation Society in Istanbul, Türkiye, a group of religious scholars from Catholicism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hinduism, Shia Islam, Judaism, Protestant Christianity, and the African American religious traditions met together to discuss viewpoints toward xenotransplantation from their respective religious tradition.

The Digital Narrative: Chronic Pain Self-Management Insights from Reddit in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Chronic pain is a pervasive and complex symptom experienced by patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), often impacting their quality of life. Traditional data sources, such as clinical records and surveys, provide valuable insights but may not fully capture the breadth of patient experiences and self-management strategies. This study leverages Reddit discussions as a real-world data source to explore chronic pain patterns, management approaches, and unmet needs among individuals with SLE.

Functional Characterization of Cytochromes P450 Linked to Herbicide Detoxification and Selectivity in Winter Wheat and the Problem Competing Weed Blackgrass.

The selective chemical control of wild grasses in wheat is primarily determined by the relative rates of herbicide metabolism, with the superfamily of cytochromes P450 (CYPs) playing a major role in catalyzing phase 1 detoxification reactions. This selectivity is enhanced by herbicide safeners, which induce CYP expression in cereals, or challenged by the evolution of nontarget site resistance (NTSR) in weeds such as blackgrass. Using transcriptomics, proteomics, and functional expression in recombinant yeast, CYPs linked to safener treatment and NTSR have been characterized in wheat and blackgrass.

Endothelial insulin-like growth factor-1 signalling regulates vascular barrier function and atherogenesis.

Aims: Progressive deposition of cholesterol in the arterial wall characterizes atherosclerosis, which underpins most cases of myocardial infarction and stroke. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a hormone that regulates systemic growth and metabolism and possesses anti-atherosclerotic properties. We asked whether endothelial-restricted augmentation of IGF-1 signalling is sufficient to suppress atherogenesis.

Anesthesia, extremely premature infants and full-scale intelligence quotient at 5 years of age.

Background: To determine the association between exposure to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned anesthetics in premature infants and their full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) score at 5 years of age.

Methods: Premature infants born <27 weeks gestational age (GA) between January 2006 and December 2012 with FDA anesthetic exposure status were included. Exposures included volatile anesthetics, propofol, benzodiazepines, ketamine, chloral hydrate, and barbiturates/phenobarbital.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Daridorexant for the Pharmacological Treatment of Chronic Insomnia Disorder in Adults.

Objective: Daridorexant 50 mg is recommended for treating chronic insomnia in England, Wales (NICE, 2023) and Scotland (Scottish Medicines Consortium, 2024). This study examines the model and cost-effectiveness profile that led to these positive reimbursements.

Methods: The cost-effectiveness model integrated data from daridorexant 50 mg phase III trials (studies 301 and 303) and the National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS).

Impacts of reproductive systems on grapevine genome and breeding.

Diversified reproductive systems can be observed in the plant kingdom and applied in crop breeding; however, their impacts on crop genomic variation and breeding remain unclear. Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.), a widely planted fruit tree, underwent a shift from dioecism to monoecism during domestication and involves crossing, self-pollination, and clonal propagation for its cultivation.

Comorbidity trajectories before and after the diagnosis of heart failure: A UK Biobank cohort study.

Aims: Heart failure (HF) is frequently associated with multiple comorbidities. We aimed to define their trajectory of accrual to identify opportunities for disease prevention.

Methods And Results: We identified all participants in the UK Biobank cohort study diagnosed with HF prior to enrolment or during follow-up, who had disease occurrence data available from both primary and secondary care records (n = 9824).

Paracrine role of endothelial IGF-1 receptor in depot-specific adipose tissue adaptation in male mice.

During recent decades, changes in lifestyle have led to widespread nutritional obesity and its related complications. Remodelling adipose tissue as a therapeutic goal for obesity and its complications has attracted much attention and continues to be actively explored. The endothelium lines all blood vessels and is close to all cells, including adipocytes.

CARE-SD: classifier-based analysis for recognizing provider stigmatizing and doubt marker labels in electronic health records: model development and validation.

Objective: To detect and classify features of stigmatizing and biased language in intensive care electronic health records (EHRs) using natural language processing techniques.

Materials And Methods: We first created a lexicon and regular expression lists from literature-driven stem words for linguistic features of stigmatizing patient labels, doubt markers, and scare quotes within EHRs. The lexicon was further extended using Word2Vec and GPT 3.

Non-adherence to immunosuppressive medications in kidney transplant recipients- a systematic scoping review.

Background: Rejection and graft failure remain common in kidney transplant recipients. Non-adherence to immunosuppressive medications is considered a major contributary factor to reduced long-term graft survival, particularly in younger people. Improvements in clinical practice based on adherence studies has been minimal.

HEAL-D Online: Exploring the potential for the spread and adoption of a virtual culturally tailored diabetes self-management programme for adults of African and Caribbean heritage.

Background: People of African and Caribbean heritage in the UK have a higher prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and poorer health outcomes than white Europeans. Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyles for Diabetes Online (HEAL-D Online) is a co-designed, culturally tailored T2D self-management programme for black African and Caribbean adults, which, due to online delivery, is well positioned for spread. This qualitative evaluation uses the Exploration-Preparation-Implementation-Sustainment (EPIS) framework to explore factors affecting scale-up from delivery and commissioning perspectives.

Viral sequence determines HLA-E-restricted T cell recognition of hepatitis B surface antigen.

The non-polymorphic HLA-E molecule offers opportunities for new universal immunotherapeutic approaches to chronic infectious diseases. Chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is driven in part by T cell dysfunction due to elevated levels of the HBV envelope (Env) protein hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Here we report the characterization of three genotypic variants of an HLA-E-binding HBsAg peptide, Env identified through bioinformatic predictions and verified by biochemical and cellular assays.

Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyles for Diabetes (HEAL-D) Online: a mixed methods evaluation exploring the feasibility of implementing a virtual culturally tailored diabetes self-management programme for African and Caribbean communities.

Objectives: To assess the feasibility and acceptability of delivering Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyles for Diabetes (HEAL-D) Online.

Intervention: HEAL-D Online-a 7-week culturally tailored type 2 diabetes educational programme delivered using online platform.

Setting: Programme delivered by a London NHS trust, with patients referred from primary care healthcare professionals via a central booking system.

Venom exaptation and adaptation during the trophic switch to blood-feeding by kissing bugs.

Kissing bugs are known to produce anticoagulant venom that facilitates blood-feeding. However, it is unknown how this saliva evolved and if the venom produced by the entomophagous ancestors of kissing bugs would have helped or hindered the trophic shift. In this study, we show that venoms produced by extant predatory assassin bugs have strong anticoagulant properties mediated chiefly by proteolytic degradation of fibrinogen, and additionally contain anticoagulant disulfide-rich peptides.

Distinct, common and synergistic effects of insulin and IGF-1 receptors on healthy murine ageing.

Objective: Reduced IGF-1 signalling is an evolutionarily conserved mediator of longevity, yet the magnitude of this effect is substantially larger in organisms retaining a common insulin and IGF-1 receptor. Whether this reflects the failure to simultaneously reduce IGF-1 and insulin signalling in mammalian model systems remains unexplored, as is the associated impact on markers of healthy ageing. We set out to address these uncertainties.

Early childhood risk factors for later onset of pediatric chronic pain: a multi-method longitudinal study.

Background: Pediatric chronic pain (i.e., pain lasting ≥ 3 months) is prevalent, disabling, and costly.

Phylogeny, envenomation syndrome, and membrane permeabilising venom produced by Australia's electric caterpillar Comana monomorpha.

Zygaenoidea is a superfamily of lepidopterans containing many venomous species, including the Limacodidae (nettle caterpillars) and Megalopygidae (asp caterpillars). Venom proteomes have been recently documented for several species from each of these families, but further data are required to understand the evolution of venom in Zygaenoidea. In this study, we examined the 'electric' caterpillar from North-Eastern Australia, a limacodid caterpillar densely covered in venomous spines.

Structure and bioactivity of an insecticidal trans-defensin from assassin bug venom.

Disulfide-rich peptides such as defensins play diverse roles in immunity and ion channel modulation, as well as constituting the bioactive components of many animal venoms. We investigated the structure and bioactivity of U-RDTX-Pp19, a peptide previously discovered in venom of the assassin bug Pristhesancus plagipennis. Recombinant Pp19 (rPp19) was found to possess insecticidal activity when injected into Drosophila melanogaster.